Word: owada
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...prince was able to persuade Owada that as his wife she would be able to use her diplomatic skills in a very effective way. If so, he will have to help make it happen. A truly enigmatic institution, the imperial household is secretive and, in general, tradition bound. Beyond its role in guarding the practice of religious rituals, nothing much is known about it. By comparison, European royal houses are open books...
Feminists, a minority among Japanese women, are divided about Owada's decision to join such a closed society. Some think she let down the side. Says Keiko Higuchi, professor of women's studies at Tokyo Kasei University: "There is a view that it's too bad she doesn't continue her work as a pioneer." She will be consigned to attending cultural events, tending to charity work and composing poems, an exacting task expected of all imperials. But, says Yukiko Kishimoto, the author of several books on women, "she is already a star and a diplomat, and she made...
Kuniko Inoguchi, a professor of international politics at Tokyo's Sophia University, believes the selection of Owada is an indication that the royal family wants to move forward. Its members are often seen as prisoners of the Imperial Household Agency, a 1,132-person bureaucracy that controls everything from rigid security to silver service to press interviews (almost none). It is hard for an outsider to adapt to such a sequestered life. Michiko, the present Empress, who married Emperor Akihito in 1959, is, like Owada, a commoner. She broke ground by insisting on certain innovations, such as raising her children...
Always popular, she has risen in stature through the years and has now passed the word that she will be Owada's ally. Says Inoguchi: "The royal family are guardians of tradition, but in wider choices, they go ahead. Michiko dared to bring up her own children. Naruhito is marrying a career woman." Poet Machi Tawara, who is Owada's contemporary, notes that she "chose her own timing. We can identify with that. There's a lot of talk about the crown prince saying 'I will put all my might in protecting you my entire life.' Some of my friends...
...this" on the test sheets. Not everyone wanted to attempt this particular hurdle, and her pals turned to Masako, a good choice since she already had superior penmanship. "I saw this," she wrote confidently on their papers, until someone in the class squealed. In the dustup that followed, Owada spoke out, saying each student should choose whether to reveal her scores. Recalls a classmate: "At a time when everyone took the teacher's word as absolute, she already sensed some right and wrong...